Mystery of Lalonde
by Cactuslotus
Summary: You have lived the rough road your whole life, but things just got rougher. You need to save the kids like you and find some place safe, but will the amazing Roxy get out? Janey says going to Canada isn't that big of an adventure, but when you're a bunch of magical hybrid teens anything can be an adventure! (Dark material. Sequal to Mystery of Strider)
1. Chapter 1

You are an alley cat, the really cute kind. You're family is kinda gone, and has been since you were four. Same with Dirk, except Dirk isn't a cat mix. Dirk has been your best friend since you were six, and the guy has been lookin' for his little brother incase he survived the family dueling that killed of the the lines of blah blah blah, don't care about this family line junk. Honestly, family lines were only important to higher up families and hunters and you are neither.

Actually, your mom didn't know your dad much at all and was shot by some hunters right in front of you. The hunters didn't know you were there of course, 'cause if they did you would probably have been sold off for in the denizen gifts blood trades. Mama was working on something big, which happened to be an solution to the whole wakes and such. It was a it bitty bottle of solution that she turned into a charm and gave to you before she left to lead the hunters away from your tree house.

You transformed obviously and had to leave the forest after a huge forest fire swept through and wiped out your home. You moved into the city after that and found Dirk. Unfortunately your charm necklace worked on him, but you both stuck together and even set up a house. It was in an abandon apartment building on the bad side of town, but what matters is that no one would find either of you. Except those to gang members that one time, but that actually worked out for the better and not the worse.

They called themselves the felt and all of them were big manly mans who said their boss died in a wicked fight a month ago to some freaky frog girl in the rivaling gang. They excepted the two of you with open arms and taught you and Dirk all sorts of cool stuff, like how to throw knives and be a boss sniper. You yourself found that you took to computers quickly, so they had you run the computer missions.

As bad as that sounds, if they hadn't found you and Dirk you would both still be digging food out of dumpsters and hiding from people in storm drains if you couldn't get home before the sun started to rise in the morning. Also, you discovered something called moonshine, which was like the stuff in the dark glass you would find sometimes, but way stronger. Dirk eventually asked you to stop drinking that shit, but it was amaze-balls.

What did get you to quit drinking it was to orphaned you would talk to every night after you were trying sneak into a building to hide from the cops. Their names were Jake and Jane. Janey was the most adorable girl you had ever seen and Jake was totes funny and a itty bitty boy. They were both your age and talked to you every day. When Dirk found out he went to go kill them so you wouldn't almost get caught by the cops every night, only to find he couldn't hurt the orphans because they were like us in the fact the had no parents. He instead brought them with us.

The papers kept showing a bird boy like Dirk and sadly this drove him to the point that he wouldn't leave his room except to grab some grub. When the kid was stuck in the park you all found about fifteen other kids trying to help him, so you all joined them. You were waiting in a nearby building with your rifle the day the people were announcing their decision, ready to rile up the crowd so he could run. The clear to fire never came, but the kid escaped anyway. Someone with that kind of destructive power had to be related to Dirk.

Apparently Jake spotted who he thought to be his sister in the crowd, but you all never really knew.

As time ticks by you all start hanging out on this side of town more in hopes of spotting these similar characters. You even found a cat girl like you who lived in the really nice part of town and she seemed so much like you. The hair, the eyes, the way her faced was. It was like you had a family member you never knew.

Of course as time continued it started getting rough for them. It got so bad that Jake and Jane ask about your charm. It worked.

You saved one of those newly transformed kids after seeing a hunter try to sell her off. You ended up shooting the man who bought her and telling her to never look back. You told her that it was best to not tell anyone where she was and to run. The fish girl thanked you before running away.

You really got into the protected stuff when green splotch McGee called in the calvary to catch these kids. You did what you always do; position, aim, breath, fire. Someone ran in front of the guy at the last moment and took the shot for him. Now leader guy was still alive, was only down one back up, and you know someone's going to call the cops.

It went down hill quick and you end up being able to only snipe one more helper guy before Dirk signals that cops were headed up. You manage to shoot a tire on the van before heading down to the bottom level of this building and sneaking out through the sewers.

It's been two years since that day.

The green splotch guy is named Scratch.

Scratch stared up a program to track down hybrids in the city and drag them off to who knows were. Last week he checked all the schools in the area. He managed to find twelve kids so far thanks to his new project, all of them orphans. You keep almost shooting him, but the guy is so difficult it's unbelievable.

Felt hq was busted this morning. They got Jake and Dirk. Unlike the other Felt members, your precious babies were handed over to Scratch. You snipe three cops, but Scratch gets away after you clip his shoulder. Jane was captured at noon when the cops stumbled across you two.

You literally have nothing left to lose anymore.

Which leads to this moment. Scratch always took this rode home. He doesn't even notice you just out of eyeshot, muzzle lined up with your target. Position, aim, breath, click. You are completely out of ammo after the police attack earlier. You focus, hands in position as you picture a new cartridge of bullet clearly in your head. You manage to appearify a perfectly good one, loading up your gun as you take position and realize he isn't there.

Time for plan scramble down the rickety fire escape and landed hard on your combat boots. You walk straight up to the bozo who took your family and drag him into the alleyway.

"My my, aren't you courageous?" Scratch stated calmly.

"Li'ten up Scratch! I want to now what you did to my family!"

"You sound intoxicated."

"Just a little 'cause you took my family! Das low, even fur yous!"

"How old are you?"

"'m twenty. Now where da fuck are they?!"

"No need to act rashly."

"Dis ain't rash." You appearify a knife and hold it to his neck. "Dis isn't even that rash either. Start talkin' before it gets rashier than poison ivy!"

"That rash?"

You press the knife closer, tiny cut appearing on his neck and a few beads of blood slip by. "I ain't playing games. You hurt my friends and I kill you. I would have done it by now if you didn't hide in crowds!"

"What?"

"I shoot your shoulder, your buddies, your cop friends, and even that one guy who showed you how's we roll. You are going to give me my friends back. Whore you to decide who gets to live with rights?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"I'm sorry but 'how we roll'? Did you mean the fauna type creatures transformations?"

"Duh. You added on to the problem!" I draw more blood on accident. "Sorry, that one was a bit of a mess up."

"Not the first one?"

"No, that was fore hurtin' my friends, which you will let go." You hear some cops in the background. Running now would make you gun fodder, so you stand there as the cops show up and try to convince you to back away. "Fuck you! You jus' think I'm an animal anyways!" You shout back to the cops, now holding Scratch in a way that was like a human shield. The cops didn't dare shoot and you knew where any snipers would want to be, keeping this in mind as you keep your eyes open.

The stand off lasted a long time, but unfortunately the cops could take shifts while you couldn't. The cops were the least of your concern you realize as Scratch forces your dozy self down before quickly sending you off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up was worse than any hangover. Your head was spinning and you don't know why, but a quick guess says whatever Scratch did to you. You sit up, ears brushing against metal. What is the trickery? You are in a metal crate and when did you start wearing a medical gown? Oh, right now, but at least they didn't touch your underwear. A quick look around and you realize that the kids from the resent activities in town are in here along with your family.  
Jane is in the cage next to yours with her cute little bun tail towards you. "Janey, you awake yet?"  
"No, but if you want to chatter I'm all ears. Names Cronus." I look towards the turtle boy, curious since I haven't seen him except in the paper that once.  
"Roxy. Why's everyone sleepin'?"  
"It's six in the morning. How'd you get caught?"  
"At gun point. Although I gotta say, Scratch can serve a punch!"  
"Yeah, he's tougher than he looks."  
"Yeah. In books my plan would have been so much better."  
"Tell me about it. I go Dumbledore on the guy with my ability and he doesn't even get a scratch!"  
"Must be Voldemort."  
"Finally someone who gets it. I was about to give up on ever talking about Harry Potter again!"  
"Wha? Who hear doesn't like Potter?"  
"Me because he won't shut the fuck up about it." A fish girl growled.  
"Harry Potter is the bomb."  
"What going on now?" A sheep girl frowned, her crate above the turtle boy.  
"New girl brought up the story that shall not be named."  
"I'm Roxy."  
"Meenah, and that's Damara."  
"Thut the fuck up wader!" A sparking fox boy snapped, shaking heavily.  
There was a loud sort of chirp was heard from a cage to the far left. "Mituna, it is rude, insensitive, and even possibly triggering to call Meenah what you did. Please keep the rude comments to you-"  
"We get it Kankri! All these words are triggering!" Dirk growled, effectively shutting the boy up.  
"Dick! Fuck, I meant Dirk. Sorry Dirk."  
"Got you too, huh Rolal?"  
There was a loud thud as someone scrambled around. "Roxy's here?"  
"Down here Jake."  
You spotted the floppy eared dog boy at the end of the top row across from you. "Roxy! How'd they get you?"  
"Pulled a knife on Scratch."  
"That's bad ass. I'm Porrim by the way." The person above you commented.  
"Not really. I clipped him when they took Janey, but the knife barely left a scratch on his neck."  
"You clipped the guy?"  
"With my mad snipe skills, which can't seem to kill Scratch."  
"You got to get close. I nailed him with my skateboard." A dragon girl stated. "The guy barely flinched!"  
"It'th okay Latula." Mituna mumbled softly.  
"Hey, we should introduce ourselves!" A guy with bull horns and fairy wings smiled. "I'm Rufioh. The horse boy is Horuss, Kankri is mixed with a squirrel, Meulin is the mountain lion mix, Aranea is the parrot girl, Kurloz is a deer and you've met everyone else."  
"Did someone ask for me?" Aranea asked.  
"No, just figuring out who's who."  
"You're the new girl? Nice to meet you, but sorry you're stuck here."

"Is everyone else awake except Janey?"

"Yeah, but she went through some rough experiments. Seems that Scratch likes something about her. Same with Kurloz." Everyone collectively pressed away from the door as if Scratch was going to walk in.

"Well fuck that! Hold on Janey, Roxy's got this!" You focus on making a key.

"What are you-" Cronus started, stopping when the key formed in your hand. It was a really nice key and you knew it would work. You fiddle with the lock until the door swings open. Everyone starts up in surprise as you step out. You go cage to cage, opening the locks and move around the room to Jane, opening it before pulling her out and having Dirk carry her. If you see Scratch you will strangle him with his own intestines.

"Now what? The guards will just take us down!" Aranea stated.

"You know how to use a weapon? Anything specific?"

"I did swordsmanship."

"Alright." You focus on the easiest sword for you, which happened to be a katana because they were Dirk's weapon of choice. You hand it to her. "Use y'ur powers. They want to catch you alive, but you all have no such limits. Aim to kill. The less after us the better. If it's Scratch you better hit with all you've got. Any other weapons?" The crowd was silent. You creat twin pistols and tossed them to Jake. "You got the rear Englash, now let's go!" You unlock the door, throwing it open as you lead the charge for the door. You ifify a rifle, hitting the door guard with the butt hard enough to hear a crack before continuing.

The search for the exit was insanely difficult. You probably nailed twenty people in the head before discovering the Kurloz could make people struggle in place before passing out like some sort of mute Darth Vadar. After that it was fairly easy and you all found the exit in a matter of minutes.

You notice all the cars in this parking lot. "We need to slash some tires! If they got cars we might not make it far!" It was then just pure tire carnage. You personally shot several cars and realized the half way through Horuss suggested stealing all the spark plugs. You guys made off into the forest with around forty spark plugs and no casualties after figuring out which car was Scratch's and completely destroying it.

"This is the best glubbing day ever!" Meenah laughed as you all ran through the forest.

"Then you should see what tomorrow is like!" You smile.

"Oh, now it really can't wait. I never knew breaking rules was so exciting!" Aranea added.

You are currently staring at what used to be your car. You say used to because it is currently in flaming, crumpled pieces scattered across the parking lot. You underestimated the cat girl and her extraordinary abilities. After going over the security tapes you realize the devastating power she posed to create objects from nothing. She had literally created a key just to open the locks from nothing at all.

You had thought it was her charm necklace and had ordered for the thing to be destroyed, but even though it was long gone she was still just as strong if not stronger. It wasn't like the dog girl, what was her name? Jade? That girl had to get her objects from somewhere, but the cat girl didn't have this problem. How was she so strong?

The dog boy was just pure untapped energy. He was nervous and awkward, but in the times he needed it the energy readings went off the charts. He was simple enough that you thought research wouldn't be to hard, but now that you see still twitching dead bodies half an hour later you regret that decision.

The deer boy could cave people under an unseen force. He had complete control of it, but with his voice he was almost unstoppable. Even you had problems resisting his commands, leading to further examination that unfortunately wiped out out his voice. His victims would have nightmares for at least three days, so you give them a break.

The rabbit girl even escaped. You discovered on accident that her quick healing also could let her seem dead for a few moments before bring her back to complete health. She was under all circumstances completely dead only to sit up completely alive, and although tired, like she had just woken up from a quick rest. She had been carried out by the tall bird boy who reminded you of Dave in several ways.

You would try finding them, but half the cars were damaged visibly and all of them were missing spark plugs at minimum. Several claimed that money was stolen from their cars. You will have to wait for someone to come help all of you. Until then you can only imagine the chaos that has arisen due to those powerful teenagers.

You should have gotten your coffee this morning.


	3. Chapter 3

You focus, making a blue knee length dress, but the ends ended up a bit tattered. "That's the best I can do. I'm beat!" You lean your back against a tree, unable to make much else after wearing yourself out.  
"It's great. Thank you Roxy." Aranea smiled before going behind a tree to change into the dress. You had managed to make a few cans of food, a tent, a comforter, a backpack, and some clothes. You tried going until you got tired because there were no stores for a long while. You were not good at appearifying food that wasn't sort of bland, but it was better than nothing. If anything everyone was really happy they had something to eat. You check on Jane again, still asleep on the comforter.  
"She will be alright Roxy." Jake was still sitting next to her, waiting for her to wake up.  
"I hope so. Wha'd they do to her?"  
"I don't know. She refused to say anything about it. You think they knew?"  
"I hope not. Poor Janey." You hug her. Her breathing starts picking up as she wakes up.  
"Roxy?" She blinks her big blue eyes and you just couldn't stop hugging her.  
"Jane! You're awake!" You couldn't believe it, burying your head in her shoulder.  
"Where am I?"  
"I helped bust everyone out. Where to head next though."  
"I say Canada." Dirk votes.  
"Wha? Why?"  
"Because Canada, that's why."  
"The rights?"  
"You know it."  
"I don't know if that applies to us, but let's try anyway! To Canada!" You start heading towards where you think Canada is, but you suddenly realize how tired you are. You end up falling asleep on the comforter.

You wake up to find the everyone else was so awake they carried you during your nap. You are in Porrim's arms, head on her shoulder as you start waking up. "Hm? I'm awake."  
"Do you want me to set you down?"  
"Yeah." She set you down and walked with you instead. "What state are we in?"  
"Scratch is set up further south of our home town, but we passed town an hour ago. We're in Washington."  
"We did not plan this out very well."  
"Yeah, but what choice do we have?"  
"Just wish we knew where to go." You hear someone. Several others stop, listening to the rustle of the bushes. You saw the glowing eyes and wondered if it was actually a bear, but it smelt similar to you. A tall man with black cat ears stepped out in front of you.  
"I happened to overhear you were headed away."  
"We are. Who are you." Meenah asked.  
"Oh, where are my manners! My name is Jaspers Lalonde."  
"Hey, my names Lalonde."  
"We might be related. Who were your parents?"  
"Mom's last name was Mutie, but she said my dad's last name was Lalonde. I took Lalonde as a last name 'cause it sounded cooler. Nefer met my dad 'cause mom had a one night stand."  
"Oh, did she describe him?"  
"Yeah, as a tall cute fella who turn into a cat and was like me cause my mom's a fold cat." He looked a bit embarrassed, but he was still here. "Do you know him?"  
"Yes, I happen to know him. We're related."  
"Woah! Turnin' into a cat is probably so cool. I want to meet him!"  
"Roxy, we have to get out of America first." Jake mentioned.  
"If you're headed north I know some people hiding in Canda, all of them denizen gifts. My sister and her friends have a property that they run as a sort of denizen gifts safe house." Jaspers smiled.  
"How do we know if we can trust you?" Dirk frowned.  
"If you don't trust me I can't make you. I am merely trying to help since I know there would be a safe place for you all, even if you went flying often."  
"How would you know?"  
"There is a crow hybrid who lives there. He loves flying, so they made sure the place was safe."  
"Did you say crow hybrid? Like the kid who was stuck in the park for a week?"  
"Yes."  
"How do we get to this place?"  
"Here," Jaspers pulled out a map before handing it to you," you need to follow this red line. Avoid being spotted in any way. At this town start following the blue line. Someone will help you from there."  
"Thank you."  
"Any time. Oh, and be mindful of bear traps." With those words Jaspers waved goodbye as he walked on through the forest.  
You realize you were already walking the red line on the map, already on step one of the route to the safe house place. "We've got to head this that way! Let's go."  
"How would you know?" Kankri asked.  
"Cause Dirky here is on map duty!"  
"Seriously?" Dirk looked unimpressed, giving you a questioning look with orange eyes.  
"Your the best with this stuff!"  
He thought a moment. "Alright fine."  
"Back to square one, now let's go!"  
"What do you mean square one?" Latula asked.  
You were making this simple. "One- walking the forest, two- scavenging cities, tree- home. I meant three, my head feels off."  
Dirk, Jane, and Jake all gave you a look. "Why does your head feel off?" Jane asked.  
"Sorry Janey, reset my timer to a day or two ago."  
"It's alright Roxy. You did it to get Scratch, didn't you?"  
"You know I did, but didn't even do that well."  
"What's going on here?" Aranea asked confused.  
"I'm having a slight hangover."  
"I'm sorry, but how old are you?" Kankri asked.  
"Twenty."  
"Why are you drinking?"  
"You ever seen someone you care about die? I was four for crying out loud! She didn't even do anything except exist you dicks! Why did you-" Dirk hugged you, running a hand through your hair to calm you down.  
"Shhhhhh. It's alright Roxy. You might have gotten them back already. Remember attacking all those hunters?"  
"Mhm."  
"You might have gotten the one who took your mom. Don't ask why she drinks again Kankri."  
"I'm so sorry." Kankri fell silent.  
"Hey, if we keep going we should reach the next town by sundown." Dirk then continued leading the way. Kankri wouldn't utter a word for a long time, even with Porrim messing with him.  
You and Cronus talked about Harry Potter until Meenah threatened to stab Cronus unless you guys stopped. You both thought she was bluffing and kept talking until she turned around and stabbed Cronus in the foot with the sword you made Aranea. On the bright side, Kankri was pulled out of his silence to tell Meenah why she shouldn't have stabbed Cronus in the foot with a katana over Harry Potter.  
"Well Cronus, what have we learned today?" You ask as you wrap up his foot.  
"That Meenah doesn't bluff."  
"Yeah, I'd say that." You focus on making anything to keep him from getting an infection and end up appearifying vodka. You pour it on his foot before taking a swig. "Want some?"  
"Didn't you say you were going to not drink?"  
"She can drink if she wants to. She decided not to herself, but seeing how the past three days have been I might try some myself." Dirk stated.  
"I made a big bottle. Who wants some?" Everyone except Kankri said they would try it. Ten seconds later you had many mixed reactions from 'it's alright I guess' to 'this tastes like piss' and they all seemed hilarious. You end up putting the bottle in the backpack for later medicinal purposes.  
"Alright, starting the night off right."  
"Roxy, that tasted like glubbing piss." Meenah was not so excited.  
"Duh, that was the lame stuff I can appearify. Real vodka tastes better."  
"I hope so."

"Exactly where did you get all these spark plugs?" The man at the pawn shop asked.

"I accidentally ordered to many off the internet. Will you take them or no?" You give him a begging glance.

"Fine, I'll give you about three dollars for each." The guy counted them before giving you the money.

"Thank you!" You smile before walking out of the store. A quick job down the block and you were back in the forest just outside of town. "Alright, I got the money. How much now?"

Aranea went over it again. "We have fourty six dollars."

"Alright then. That's drink money. Food can easily be found."

"Don't you have to buy food?" Kankri asked.

"I know where to get it for free."

"We don't have to steal do we?"

"It's not stealing if no one wants it. Believe it or not, 'merica tosses out still wrapped up food jus' 'cause it's a day or so old at fast food joints. All you got to do is get it."

"You mean go dumpster diving." Meenah gave you a side glance.

"It tastes fine! Alright, I'll take Janey with me, so..." You make her usual outfit," her ya go!" Jane got dressed out of view before coming over to you. "Great let's go!" You lead the way into the dark town, the two of you sticking to the shadows. You find a burger place and are already lifting the lid to the dumpster. You can smell trash, food, and a rat.

"Are you ready Janey?"

She looked over to the street before looking back to the dumpster. "I don't know, can't we just buy food?"

"Janey, we got to save that money. Besides, this food is totally fine." You hop into the dumpster, quickly finding several hamburgers. "Thank you Mackers!"

"Isn't that what Jake calls mcdonalds?"

"His phrases will rub off on you eventually." You stuffing most of the hamburgers into your bag along with some boxes of chicken tenders. You spot a jacket. "It's like Christmas in here! I found a jacket." You quickly find out it was a homeless guy when he grabs your ankle. You ifify a cube and hit him in the head with it. "Nevermind. Alright, got the grub, let's go!"

Jane just looked so confused. "What happened?"

"Some guy was asleep in there." Jane gave you a look. "I didn't kill him, gosh!"


	4. Chapter 4

"I got Mackers!" You cheer as you open your bag.  
"They toss all this out?" Cronus looked at the food in surprise.  
"This is most of it. I got burgers, nuggets, fries weren't clean so no fries, and some of the pie thingies. Dig in guys!" You start eating a burger. Dirk doesn't even hesitate to start eating one of the hamburgers. The rest of the group eventually started eating them.  
"You and Dirk don't mind?" Mituna was quiet.  
"We had to for a few years, then we were found by some guys who took us into the Felt."  
"Felt?!" Meulin coughed in surprise. "Isn't that the worst gang in town?"  
"They were. They were busted, then Jake and Dirk were caught. Funny how the Felt 'cepted us but the orphanages would have tossed us to Scratch."  
"Wait, were the four of you in the Felt?" Latula asked.  
"Yeah, but not anymore."  
"Is that why you guys have so much control of your abilities?"  
"Sort of. What's y'ur guy's abilities?"  
"Not entirely sure. Some of us don't have abilities."  
"Every denizen gifts has abilities, the just aren't awake yet." You reach for your charm only to find your necklace was gone. "My charms gone!"  
"Scratch must have taken it."  
"Oh shit."  
"What?"  
"That charm is an accelerator! It makes you develope your abilities faster. Oh man, I hope he doesn't figure it out." You focus on making the charm, light flickering as it formed. You catch it in your hands before putting it on. You were also upset you lost your mothers charm, but you weren't about to go after it and leave everyone to try fending for themselves.  
"That's your charm?"  
"Yup. It reacts to my abilities so I have to be careful with it or I start making weird stuff."  
"Like what?" Rufioh asked.  
"Like, generic cubes and weird candy corn pieces." You make then as example, green cube and candy corn thing appearing in your hand. "The cubes are really easy to make though and take no energy."  
"So you could build a tower of cubes without getting tired?"  
"Yup, but I don't know what to do with them. Their really light and I haven't broken one before. Wait, do you know your ability?"  
"No, it doesn't- what are you doing?" He eyed you as you held out your charm in front of him. It lights up and very quickly he is looking around everywhere. "Who is talking?"  
"We aren't talking. It's just chirps and calls." Horuss states. Rufioh keeps looking around for the voices, but then he stops.  
"I can't hear any animals, just voices."  
"What if the voices are the animals?" Meulin smiled," That would be cool!"  
"Not as cool as being able to hear."  
"You've got that right! I'm glad I can do that again."  
Rufioh smiled until he seemed to hear something, quickly trying to see what it was. "Oh, that was just a rabbit. Nearly gave me a heart attack!"  
"You get the basics?" You asked.  
"Yeah."  
"Anyone who knows their ability?"  
"Kurloz, you four, Rufioh, Mituna with the energy sparks, Porrim is really strong and fast, Kankri sees what will happen sometimes, Damara has a sort of sped up decay power, Meenah switches constantly, Horuss is insanely strong, and I can sort of read minds and control them, except Latula's and the people touching her when she's awake." Aranea smiled.  
"What do you mean Meenah switches?"  
"I mean her abilities change constantly. One day she's barely able to hold a pencil without breaking it, the next she can hold a teacup and make the energy sparks. Her abilities are always different."  
"Not my fault my powers can't be tamed!" Meenah grumbled.  
"Your eye color must be really cool. Can I see?" You are already trying to see past her unruly hair to her eyes.  
"There stupid now drop it."  
"Their really cool. Please show them." Aranea sat up from leaning on her. "Please?"  
"There freaky as hell, so no."  
"Can you show me what the ability of the day is?" You ask. She focuses only to almost burn her eyebrows off with a huge fire ball. Her hair was not spared as much, several parts burnt short in the front. Her eyes were like an ocean of colors, not really settling in any color division. "Hopy shit! Your eyes are amazing!"  
"Of course, their my eyes, but I don't want anyone seeing them."  
"Wha? Well, alright then." You make a pair of shades before handing them to her.  
She slaps them on before checking her hair. Her hair had been down to her feet, but only parts of it were now. "Roxy, can you make two hair ties?" Aranea asked. You quickly make her two hair ties. She somehow cuts some more of Meenah's hair before starting to braid what's left into two very long braids and tying the ends. Meenah gave up protesting as soon as Aranea had started working on her hair. "Can you stand up now?" Aranea smiled excitedly. Meenah got up, her hair stopping a bit below her knees.  
You make her jeans, a dark band shirt, socks and sneakers. She turns around and puts them on, turning back around when she has them on. You look around to see only Kurloz and Porrim still had medical gowns. "Oh, what clothes do you guys want?"  
Kurloz was signing something, but you couldn't understand. "He asks if he can get a skull hoodie." Meulin interprets.  
"You know sign language?"  
"I had to, I was deaf."  
"Cool. One skull hoodie coming up pronto!" You make a skull hoodie with some pants and shoes before handing them to him. "And for you?"  
"Just a black dress. I don't need anything else."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yes." You make her a black dress that somehow reaches her ankles. She just changes without turning around and stands up. She does the twirly thing in her dress before nodding in approval, smiling slightly. "Thank you Roxy."  
"No problem! Dirk, how close?"  
"With our current speed we will be to the blue line within a few days, possibly a week. A week on the blue line with another few days of travel max and we should be their if Jaspers was correct. I think we should pick up the speed unless we want to be found. There is also the problem of crossing the Canadian border undetected. If even one of us are spotted then it endangers the rest by giving Scratch a trail." Dirk stood up," I mean it. Scratch is crafty and will be looking for anything, even if most people would skip over it. Something is off about him, not quite normal, but that seems to be giving him the advantage. Does anyone's powers work around him?"  
"I can't get readings on him." Aranea stated.  
"Kurloz says he resisted his control." Meulin exclaimed.  
"Couldn't land a hit that hurt him enough. Same for everyone else it seems." Porrim frowned.  
"Just as I thought." Dirk stated. "If it doesn't hurt him he is affected, otherwise attacking him seems nearly impossible. Since Kurloz's ability would technically cause harm it wasn't effective against him. Abilities seem to be weakened around him from what you guys have said, but why is the question. Also, why can't Aranea's abilities work?"  
"That's a good question there Dirk." Jake seemed to think about it. "My ability didn't even work around him."

"What?" Dirk was surprised, but it was hard to tell with shades. "You alright Jake?"

"I'm fine. I just couldn't focus most of the time, but when I could it just wouldn't work around him. I guess it was better than being around him."

Dirk hugged Jake, letting the dog boy bury his head into his shoulder. "Uh, are we missing something here?" Latula asked.

"Yeah, what's Jake's power?" Meenah questioned.

"I don't want to talk about it." Jake's voice was muffled by Dirk's shirt.

"Tell us! It's not fair for you to hide it." Meenah crossed her arms.

"How about you show everyone your eyes before sawing that again." Dirk glared at her.

"We're all just stressed and tired!" Aranea spoke up. "Let's all get some sleep and see if that settles things, alright?" She clapped her hands together as if it solved everything.


	5. Chapter 5

You wake up to the sounds of Dirk and Jake sneaking of into the woods. You let them since you know that they probably need some alone time after last night's craziness. You almost fall back asleep when Kankri sat up. "Don't leave them alone. It isn't clear, but they're going to need help. Bring your gun."  
"Thanks Kankri." You hop to your feet, grabbing your rifle before going into ninja stealth mode as you follow Jake and Dirk from the trees. You were an agile cat girl on a mission to protect your boys from foreseen attack. If Jake didn't have such good hearing you would have been humming the mission impossible theme. Instead you listen to their conversation because that's always entertaining.  
"Good thing it's Friday."  
"Dirk, we don't go to school, or work for that matter, so it doesn't matter. Wait a minute, it's Sunday!"  
"You caught me, it's actually Sunday."  
"Don't act like you planned it."  
"But I did. Just testing you."  
"No you didn't."  
"I think we're far enough."  
"You wanted to ask about... what happened, didn't you?"  
"He didn't hurt you right?"  
"I already told you that doesn't matter."  
"That isn't reassuring."  
"He hurt everyone with his investigating! Kurloz lost his voice, Jane was hurt several times, Meenah wouldn't even talk about testing, and everyone else wasn't so happy with it either! Yes, I was hurt, now stop."  
"Did your ability really not work around him?"  
"Yes. He tried everything he could think of! By golly, he even tried being nice. Of course, he got frustrated to the point he had an outburst, but even that didn't work. I ended up being locked in a side room with a camera."  
"Did you break it?"  
"Three times."  
"How many times on accident?"  
"Four."  
"How many cameras does he have?"  
"I don't know, but at least seven." Jake then tripped over a tree root when he stepped forward, falling onto Dirk and knocking him over. "Sorry, um, there. I'll just get of." Jake started getting up when he suddenly stopped and slipped back down. You quickly realize that the had slipped into a make out session and you decide to check around you for any people.  
You keep getting distracted by the sounds the two macking on each other insanely loud, but that might be because you had cat ears and were a few trees away. Several times you thought you heard someone just to realize it was just kissing being unreasonably loud. You almost wanted to head back to camp, but you stayed to keep them safe. Darn you Kankri and your unarguable foresight ability. You were sixty percent sure that this is stupid.  
You were about to leave when you heard someone approaching the area. You get into firing position in the tree branches, aiming in the direction of the sound. Dirk and Jake were so into there make out the didn't notice until the figure came into view and was shot in the ear by you. It was fucking Scratch of course.  
"I see you got ahold of a gun again." Scratch stated as he stood up, not paying mind to the blood dripping on his jacket. You shot him again, getting him on the side of the neck.  
You jump out of the tree and held the muzzle to his head right between his eyes and pulling the trigger.  
"Finally!" You shout, doing a little victory dance as Jake and Dirk just lay there with horrified expressions on their faces. "What?"  
"You were here the whole time?!" Jake started blushing.  
"Yeah, and you guys need to learn that mackin' don't need to be so loud. I mean it, you guys are so loud I don't even want to know how you sound past this."  
"Oh my god Roxy." Dirk was starting to blush, shades already knocked off.  
"Jus' saying."  
"Hey, did Scratch just move?" Jake questioned.  
"Oh fuck, zombs!" You shoot him again. "There, I double tapped."  
"How about triple tapping him in the heart and not just the head?" Dirk suggested.  
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." You agree, shooting Scratch in the heart. "Should we burn him too? This guy has been really unstoppable."  
"I'll get the lighter and any fuel from the camp, you stay here with Jake to make sure he doesn't somehow walk away from this." Dirk then runs off for camp. You and Jake kind of just stand there and he looks real uncomfortable. You shot Scratch a few more times to be sure before Dirk came back with an armful of sticks, twigs, and dried leaves. He arranged them around Scratch before taking a step back. "Speak now before I torch this guy."  
"I got something." You unload on him. "That was for attacking my family. Alright, take it away Dirk!" Dirk lights the wood before taking a step back. You all watch him burn into a shriveled up guy who was burnt past recognition. You all agreed he wasn't walking away from this one and headed back to camp. "You know, you two can hav' at each other."  
"Bad Roxy. Stop being suggestive." Dirk frowned. Jake looked really embarrassed.  
"Jus' saying. Scratch did interrupt."  
"Roxy I'm serious. We just stumbled into each other."  
"I was there the whole time! 'Sides, all your make outs are so loud. That wasn't a stumble, if you know what I mean. Wonk." You wink at them and raise your eyebrows a few times. Jake looks like he's about to curl up into a ball in embarrassment, but instead buried his head into the back of Dirk's shoulder, hiding his red face. "What's the matter Engrish? I mean English."  
"Just stop bloody talking!" Jake's voice was muffled by Dirk's shirt.  
"Fine. I got my eyes on you two!" You hurry ahead to the camp, humming happily. Everyone was already starting to wake up, so you weren't interrupting anything.  
"Is that blood?" Meulin asked.  
"Yup. I killed Scratch."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah, the trick to not missing is to hold it to his head. I unloaded on him and Dirk burned him up, so there's a 99.9999999999999999999999999999% chance he's still alive."  
"And what would that other amount be?" Porrim asked.  
"If you can't kill him and he's just going to be really screwed up looking. In any case, let's go! Come on, grab your things and start going!" You start helping them pick up. Everyone heads off once Dirk and Jake catch up. You all decide to run since you weren't sure if Scratch had been alone or not and didn't want to risk it.

It was quiet except for the sounds off crunching dried leaves and the occasional snap of a twig, so you take it upon yourself to fill the silence. "On the road again, we are on the road again. Something, something, something, road again."

"You don't know the song?" Rufioh asked.

"Do you?"

"No."

"Roxy, we aren't on the road."

"Shut it Dork, I know what I'm doing. I meant Dirk."

"Can you say 'run' instead of 'road'?"

"Alright then. On the run again, here we are on the run again. Something, something, something, road again. Don't know this line 'cept on the run again." You continue like this until you get distracted and end up singing another song. You switch songs several times over the course of a few hours before everyone else realizes you actually know all the words to a good handful of popular songs that you heard often on the radio. Now they ask for a song and you would sing it for them with your amazing singing powers. Who knew going to Canada would be such a fun trip.


	6. Chapter 6

You lead the way around the outskirts of town. You were looking for a close by Fast food place so you wouldn't have as big of a risk of getting caught. Meenah decided to go with you, being not as tired as the rest of the group. You spotted a place close by, stealthily heading off down the street towards it.  
"Hey, let's head inside to get a drink first." Meenah then headed inside. It was basically empty except for a girl off to the side in a red dragon hoodie and the guy behind the register. "Hey, can I get a large drink?"  
"That will be $1.75."  
Meenah pays the guy before filling the cup up at the soda fountain and sitting down at one of the tables. "Who knew we would get this far?"  
"What, you didn't think so?"  
"Not with Scratch trailing us."  
"Scratch wasn't 'posed to find us. Pulling the wires out of the cars, slashing tires, taking a bunch of spark plugs. At least he's dead." You look up to see dragon hood girl was watching the two of you. "Do I have something on my face?"  
"What? No, you look fine. I'm going to refill this before we head out." She goes and refills the cup, but the dragon hooded girl was still watching you too. You both head out, sneaking around back to the dumpster.  
You hop into the dumpster when you hear a laugh.  
"You guys aren't seriously going to dumpster dive, are you?" The dragon hoodie girl asked. Her red shades hid her expression well.  
"We don't have enough for food for our friends, and this stuff is still packaged so-"  
"I'm not letting you go dumpster diving when I can easily get you food that hasn't been tossed in the trash. Come on, I'll pay for you."  
"And why would you do that?" Meenah questioned.  
"You guys said you killed Scratch right?"  
"You know Scratch?"  
"He's the only asshole who would attack a blind girl, so yeah, I know him."  
You couldn't quite believe this girl was blind but could get around so easily, but seeing as some of the others in your group had disabilities you could believe Scratch would knowingly attack some blind girl 'for science'. "Wait, that means your a denizen gifts."  
"One of the best and worst things that ever happened to me. I barely escaped capture, but it does make things easier."  
"What 'cha mean?"  
"I'm still blind, but I have a sense of the world around me. It's pretty cool that I don't need my billy cane anymore, but I still have it."  
"Why do still have it if you can kinda see?"  
"Because if I get a stuffy nose I lose a lot of sensory. So, will you guys let me buy you stuff or not?"  
"Just warning you that we are a big group."  
"Then I'll get stuff off the dollar menu, let's go." You all walk back inside and up to the register, this girl who's name is still unknown buying you guys food. "How many in your group?"  
"Sixteen."  
"You weren't kidding. Sixteen hamburgers, fries, and small drinks."  
"49.67 is the total." The girl just handed the guy a fifty. "We don't except bills this big." The girl took it back, going through the wad of cash from her pocket and pulling out two twenties and a ten. How she got so much you will never know. You and Meenah stared at the girl in shock.  
"How old are ya? 16?"  
"I'm 17 thank you. Do you guys need help carrying this stuff?"  
"Yeah, but we can handle it."  
"Where's your group headed."  
"A place a guy named Jaspers told us about."  
"Oh, so I'm guessing you are now looking for the guide along the blue path."  
"Is that you or do you just know this stuff?"  
"It's me. Can't give you my real name for safety reasons, so call me Neophyte Redglare. What's your names?"  
"I'm Roxy Lalonde and this is Meenah Peixes. So what are you new to?"  
"Huh? Oh, I'm studying law. I work as a secretary under a lawyer who works for two hunters to gain knowledge. That's the first time someone asked about my pseudo name though."  
"I was wondering where you got that question." Meenah grabbed some of the bags off the counter.  
"What do they teach at high schools?" You ask in shock.  
"Utter bullshit and that you need collage." Redglare laughed. "Can we get drink carriers? Thank you. I'm serious Roxy, it's not much. Were you homeschooled or something?"  
"Street schooling, self schooling with some buddy schooling and lots of activities."  
"She was raised by the Felt." Meenah translated, filling some of the cups.  
"Only since I was eight."  
"What did you know so far?" Redglare asked.  
"Mad hacks and lots of computer stuff, algebra, reading, writing, science, first aid and how to do stitches and stuff, lots of gun stuff, driving and car stuff, how not to cook, how to cook, why you shouldn't meow around dogs, street logic, how to be awesome, the correct mixing of drinks and some other stuff."  
"I'm thoroughly unimpressed with public schools now. You seriously learned all of that without going to school?"  
"I have the internet and several knowledged people. And practice, I forgot practice."  
"You must be practically unstoppable."  
"I am when I need to be." You picked up two of the drink holders, Meenah holding the bags of food and Redglare holding the other two drink containers. You all head out, sneaking off into the forest towards everyone else. As everyone came into sight you knew some of them could smell the just cooked fast food. "Got some Happy Jacks!"  
"Is that another one of Jake's phrases?" Jane asked, stopping when you guys put down the food. Her transformation had made her nose more bunny like, making it almost adorable when her nose twitched as she sniffed the air to make sure she was smelling things right. "That's fresh food."  
"You can thank Redglare for that. Oh, this is Redglare. She's the guide on the blue line."  
"Hi, what are your names?" She asked.  
Everyone introduced themselves, Meulin translating Kurloz's sign language. "He lost his voice to Scratch's experiments."  
"Why would Scratch do that?"  
"His ability involved his voice. He can still use it, it's just not as strong."  
"I can't say Scratch surprises me anymore. Sorry about that, but maybe my friend Dave can heal him when we get to the house."  
"Wait, Kurloz might be healed?"  
"Dave can heal things with fire, or kill things with fire depending the situation. He can literally undo people's transformations so he probably will be able to fix Kurloz's voice."  
Meulin hugged Kurloz happily. Kurloz signed something while smiling. "I know! Isn't this great!"  
"Dave is safe?" Dirk looked so relieved he might collapse.  
"You know Dave?"  
"He doesn't know me though."  
"That's really helpful. Care to explain more?"  
"I think he's my brother. I lost my family 18 years ago, one of them being my baby brother. I thought they were all dead, but my families abilities are fire, time, and life orientated with a combination of the three being the ability we were known for. No others outside the family line can, so I knew that after seeing Dave's abilities it had to be him."  
"Is that why the house was almost just ashes? What about the bodies?"  
"It was a fight between families. Wait, how do you know that?"  
"The man who raised Dave had found him in the wreckage."  
"Who raised Dave?"  
"A hunter. Don't worry, this guy isn't like most hunters, he's more like a cop. He tries to keep people from killing each other and takes out people who do. He's partners with Jaspers."  
"Jaspers is a hunter?" You say in surprise.  
"Wait, what do you mean hunters?" Kankri questioned.  
"We don't mean like the man who killed Bambi's mom hunters, we mean out to get the supernat'ral hunters. A very small few care about helping the supers', the rest shot now and ask questions later. Unless their blood traders, in that case they don't shot and instead catch you alive and sell your blood. Although, since we look like woodland creatures a norm hunter might accidentally shot us."  
Kankri looked a bit on the horrified side, and he even shut up. Everyone else definitely looked mixes between scared and shocked. You then remember you didn't explain blood traders to Jake or Jane either, and you hadn't had to explain to Dirk because his parents had told him when he was a kid. "Jane? Jake? Guys, it's okay! I won't let you guys get caught." You hugged Jane because she looked like she needed a hug.


	7. Chapter 7

As exciting as America is, you all need to cross the border into Canada. Seeing as how none of you could just go get passports due to the fact you were all hybrids, you all had to sneak over the border. Redglare claimed it was easy, but most of the group were law abiding teens who could barely ditch class under normal circumstances. You decide to check on how everyone was holding up.  
"Janey, Janey you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"  
"Oh, sorry Roxy. As fun as sneaking into another country must seem, I'm worried we won't make it through."  
"Wha? You know we will get through!"  
"But what about the patrollers? What if we aren't sneaky enough? Or worse, hunters."  
"Still hung up about that? Jane, we could take on anyone with a little fightin' easy and we are the stealthiness around. Remember when we snuck into that fancy theater to watch the Swan Lake ballet? Or that time we had to sneak Jake out of the hospital past guards after we accidentally found out he had a peanut allergy? What about when we sneaked into that dingy old animal shelter and freed the dogs and cats and bunnies and birds and hamsters and that one turtle the size of a desktop?"  
"That turtle was really big, but this is different. We are sneaking into another country."  
"Cops are cops! We should be fine."  
"Roxy, these are going to be rangers and people of higher authority than cops."  
"They got nothing on us. 'Sides, we got Kurloz to help us. Right Kurloz?" He gave a smile and a quick thumbs up. "You the man Kurloz!"  
"Are you sure his ability will be enou-" Jane stopped talking as her lond ears went from floppy to standing upright, turning slightly as she listened. Her slightly bunny-like nose gave a few sniffs of the air before her eyes widened slightly and she took a step back.  
"Jane?" You could hear her heartbeat start to thump away in your ears, the cat part of you taking over long enough that you tackle her to the ground. "I'm so sorry Jane! Jane, what's going on?" She was still just on her back, not moving. You pull her into a sitting position and she begins moving again, but she looks terrified. "Jane, it's alright." You know you will probably have to carry her now, hoisting the short girl over your shoulder before continuing.  
"Roxy?! No, don't keep going!"  
"You guys are already beginning to sense him, huh?" Redglare leaned against a tree as she waited, snout of the red dragon head part of her hoodie falling over face. You realize the people who were mixes of prey animals were reacting badly.  
Meulin was holding Kurloz down despite the size difference, telling him it was going to be fine even as he almost kicked her with his hooves in panic. Damara seemed to have control of herself, but then again sheep didn't really react much as far as you know. Porrim was holding Kankri like you were holding onto Jane and you were just glad you didn't have to worry about getting a face full of bush tail. As you notice Jake desperately trying to keep Dirk calm and Meenah trying the same with Aranea you were glad you weren't a bird. Even Horuss was on the scared side, hiding behind a tree.  
As you here Jake whimper you realize that besides Redglare, Latula, and yourself, everyone seemed a bit panicked. You were glad cats didn't care about anything except food and hunting right now. You quickly realize what this lack of reaction from the other two means. "Are we dealing with a dragon or am I wrong?"  
"No, it's a dragon alright. You can see him for yourself if you want."  
"Don't take me with you!" Jane cried in protest.  
"We need his help to get across, so the quicker you realize he won't hurt you the better." Redglare stated calmly. You decide to walk up to it, even as Jane cried out her protests and tried wiggling free.  
You were stunned by awe as soon as you spotted the looming figure under the massive trees. The towering dragon had huge white scales the size of dinner plates and big glowing red eyes that seemed to stare you down where ever you stood with their lack of pupils. He was big as at least a three story building and calmly stood before you. He layed down with a loud thud, the sound of a few snapping branches and crackling of dead leaves.  
"He's huge." You laugh in surprise, walking right up to his big head. He could probably snap up a minivan whole and yet you had no problems with the idea of jumping up onto his snout.  
"Roxy! Roxy please, please just put me down!" Jane's sentence sounded more like a squeal as you jumped up on top of this dragon's muzzle.  
"See? He ain't gonna hurt you!" You could hardly contain your excitement. You don't know what Redglare was planning, but you were cool with any plan involving a dragon. Jane started relaxing on your shoulder, looking around calmly. You let her down and she just looks around in awe, like she couldn't believe her eyes.  
"This is amazing." She breathed, a smile tugging at her lips.  
"I know! Let's show the others!" You hopped down, Jane following after you. Horuss was closest, so you grab his wrist before dragging him off with you. He was not very happy with this, but he stopped dragging his hooves after spotting the dragon. He then refused to move and you were still trying to force the now sweating horse hybrid forward. You were glad he only had two horse legs instead of four like a centaur, because forcing hooves forward through underbrush was nearly impossible.  
You could tell Jane was having better look because you heard her giggling as Dirk shot past you and hugged the massive dragon. "This is the best day of my life!" He shouted happily, voice muffled since he was standing against the dragon's side.  
"Stars and banners! That brute is huge!" Jake exclaimed in surprise. He started laughing what almost sounded like nervously.  
Rufioh followed almost exactly in Dirk's footsteps, hugging the side of the dragon a few feet over from Dirk. "You boys and your anime love of dragons." You toppled over as Horuss ran up to Rufioh, obviously saying something to him.  
Very soon you heard Porrim walk past, looking up to see Kankri trying to pull free even with Porrim's grip strong on his sweater and around his waist. You and Jane can't hold back your laughter as you see Kankri trying to wiggle free of Porrim's death grip.

The rest of the group slowly came over, frightened but also amazed by the calm dragon. Any doubts they had about getting into Canada were long gone, the image of any hunters trying to get them laughable now that you had a giant dragon on your side.

"What did I say?" Redglare smiled," He's not going to hurt any of you!" The dragon lifted his humongous head, bringing it over to right in front of Redglare. She stroked the front of his muzzle. It was then that you noticed her ears were the same as the dragons and behind her shades you could see her teal eyes, which when the dragon licked her was the color of his tongue.

"He's like an oversized dog!" You smile.

"All dragons are. Their so sweet when you get to know them." She giggled as the big teal tongue almost knocked her over.


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone seemed to like the big, calm dragon. He didn't even seem to care as everyone ran around him like excited five year olds. "So, what does this dragon plan entail?" You ask, watching your friends run around.  
"I honestly have never moved such a big group before. While I can try to have him hold you guys like he usually does, if he holds all of you he won't be able to land. I don't think you guys will be able to learn how to ride a dragon in shorter than a month and the flyers of your group won't be able to keep up with him."  
"Aren't we just crossing the border?"  
"No, we're going almost completely there. It's fast and efficient, along with a delicate balance of wind observation and dragon guidance. We have till midnight before we can take off, so any solutions have to be thought of by then or we will have to wait until midnight of tomorrow."  
"Why midnight?"  
"During the day is too obvious, and dragons at night have been mistaken for shooting stars. It makes the chances of someone spotting us much smaller, which is exactly why that time. Plus, my copilot won't get out here until nine."  
"You have a copilot for ridin' a dragon?"  
"We need the wind to be just right. Against us and you will feel it, none and it's alright, but with us makes the smoothest and fastest flights."  
"Your friend has windy powers?"  
"Yes."  
"That's boss."  
"I'm a fighter, what's your ability?" Redglare seemed curious.  
"I can make things from nothing. I would use the ability for food, but it makes it bland and tasteless. Mainly I use it for weapons."  
"That's really cool. A friend of mine has a ability we thought was that, but it turns out she can just pull things from the world of the denizen gifts."  
"Woah! How 'bout I we all figure out each others abilities when we meet up? They sound cool."  
"Sounds like a plan." Redglare smiled. "I'll even tell you my real name when we get there."  
You smile. Jane goes flying into you, knocking you both over. "Sorry Roxy!" Jane looked away embarrassed, blushing a bit as she hopped off of you.  
"It's fine." You groan from your spot on the underbrush. You hop up, tackling her. "Tag!" You step back as she sits up in surprise.  
"So you are playing tag after all!" Jake called from where he was, tail wagging excitedly.  
"I wasn't. I just tripped. Mid run. Into Roxy." Jane was getting flustered as she tried explaining, failing miserably and just growing more embarrassed.  
"Meow meow meow meow meow!" You taunt the boy, getting a bark before he caught himself and covered his mouth. "Meeeeeeeeoooooooow!" You sauntered over, staying just out of reach as you messed with the dog boy. "Mrrrrrow!" You jump out of the way as he lunges, barking and growling. You hiss on instinct, taking off running. Jake runs after you and you can already hear Kankri starting up a speech over it. He quickly starts getting frazzled by the barks and leaves the perfect excuse for Porrim to tackle hug him.  
It was all fun and games until Kankri started yelling. "Don't touch me!" He glared at Porrim, obviously not amused with her antics. Porrim was not impressed either, glaring back. The two were getting into an intense staring contest when Pyralsprite picked up Kankri with his mouth and placed him farther away. Kankri was only slightly touched by the saliva, but he was thoroughly done with the situation.  
"Oh, hey, don't fight around Pyralsprite. He will break it up." Redglare casually meant ironed from her spot where she lay on his back.  
"Wait a minute. I left the sink on at home." You sigh. "Wait, I had an idea. Redglare, what if Pyralsprite carried people in his mouth?"  
"They would be covered in saliva and teal stains on any white clothes."  
"Only Cronus has white clothes. Hey Cronus, care if a dragon makes your shirt watery teal?"  
"Not really."  
"He's cool with it."  
"You guys are the most laid back group, I'm sure of it." Redglare then thought a moment. "None of you are that scared anymore though. I don't know though, won't you guys find it risky?"  
"I'm more certain that I'm safer in a dragons mouth than I am staying in my home town. I think this explains how fucked up people can be in a sad sort of way."  
"Your getting deep there Roxy."  
"I'm allowed to be deep. What, am I just some mindless drunkard who depends on Dirk and my date for everything in my life? I got some pizzaz and character. Plus I currently have no date."  
"I'm not doubting you can be deep, I'm just saying that most people I know only get deep right before they fall asleep. I'm used to saying it in a 'you seem tired' way."  
"Oh. I got ya. What time is it?"  
Redglare checked her watch. "Seven thirty. We can't put people in Pyralsprite's mouth, by the way, for safety reasons."  
"I really wish we could just skip to the exciting part like in a story."  
"What kind of story?"  
"I dunno. Maybe it's an adventure story, or written by yourself mentally. What if the writer is no one at all and we are just the tellers of our own tales, listening to the silence around us as we weave the words of our own story line?"  
"You're getting a little deep there Roxy."  
"Where did all these people come from?!" A surprised boy in blue had managed to scale the dragon's side and was now looking around in amazement.  
"Hey there John. We have a big group of odd people including Dave's long lost brother and Scratch's killer."  
"Wait, someone killed Scratch?!" John looked lost.  
"That was me. Unloaded a gun directly on his chest and head." You nod calmly.  
"And then we set him on fire." Dirk added. "Just to be sure."  
"You guys are hard core!" John was surprised to say the least. "Oh, T- I mean Redglare. There are almost no people tonight, so we are clear to fly as of thirty minutes from now."  
"It's seven thirty."  
"What? No, it's nine twenty eight- nine."  
"I think my watch is broken."  
"It says nine twenty seven. You licked it right?"  
"No, that's probably why. The design makes things so confusing sometimes!"  
"How would licking a watch make it easier to see?" You ask, confused.  
"Since I can't see with my eyes, I see in other ways. I can sense most of the world around me pretty well, but sometimes my smell isn't enough for the smaller details. Licking it covers what smell missed." She licked her watch. "Yeah, the time's right. This is going to take a while."  
"Oh, Ter- Redglare, I forgot to mention that we have English on our tail. He will catch up to us in about three hours. He has a copter by the way, so we would need to be cared off by Pyralsprite within two hours and thirty minutes at max to be on the safe side."  
"Wait, who English?"  
"Not your English, but a military asshat named English. He's almost worse than Scratch from what Dave would say about him."  
"What he would say?"  
"Roxy, Scratch normally is better than English under heavy supervision. Dave didn't even get feed until he passed out from lack of energy two or three days after being captured, and that was with people trying to keep English under control. Dave won't talk about much passed that without freaking out, but he still wakes up screaming every once and awhile and then checking all over like he thinks someone hurt him in his sleep."  
You really had no clue what to say, so you focus on the transport issue. "How long would it take Pyralsprit to fly a group their and come back?"  
Redglare looked surprised. "About two hours and fourty minutes."  
"Do you think you could take two trips? As many as you can the first trip and whoever's left next?"  
"That might just work, but it will be pushing the time barrier. Are you sure you have some willing to take the risk?"  
"Course! How many do you think will have to wait?"  
"Three."  
"Start helping people, I already know who I have in mind." You hop down, running straight for where Dirk, Jane, and Jake were sitting. "Guys, three of us got to wait. Which on is going?"  
Dirk thought this over. "I think either Jane or Jake should go, knowing that you will stay around no matter what we try."  
"Wait, Dirk, you should go." Jane stated. "I don't think it's going to be that bad waiting, so go ahead. We will be about two hours behind."  
"I'm going to be right back." You head over to Redglare. "Hey, since Jake is so small, do you think he could fit with Dirk? He won't take much room."  
"Actually, I might be able to fight him on, but that means you and your friend Jane would have to wait. Are you two willing to risk it?"  
"Yes."  
"Alright, I'll try to fight him."  
"Thanks!" You run back over to your friends. "She says she can fit both you boys."  
"You're willing to wait here?" Dirk asked.  
"I am too. You both should go while you can." Jane smiled. "Oh, quick, their already ready to leave!"  
You and Jane both force the hesitant boys forward, eventually they go with everyone else. You and Jane watch them take off, standing there to listen to the soft chirps of crickets and sounds of the night.


	9. Chapter 9

Some times, taking a gamble works perfectly, while other times it ends terribly. You are the gambling master, winning huge amounts where you should have been found out and died a miserable death. You have never lost a gamble.  
Then again you have never fallen asleep in a dangerous area either.  
There's always a first.  
Unfortunately, this first will cost you and Jane greatly if what Redglare said was true. Unfortunately, Redglare hasn't lied to you since you met her.  
You wake up to Jane screaming as two burly guys in security type uniforms grab hold of her, pinning her to a tree. You drop down from the tree you were sleeping in, appearifying a knife and attempting to stab one of them. They were wearing bullet proof vest things, so your weapon did nothing at all. One you the guys took over pinning Jane while the other turned to face you. He struck out, but you dodge quickly. The guy moves fast, but you move faster and kick him in the back of the knees. Your victory is short lived because you hear a helicopter overhead, looking up in time for a chain net to land on top of you.  
"Roxy!" Jane is still trying to get out of their grip, but it's not working.  
You force yourself to try crawling out from the heavy net, but you find the edge surrounded. You almost frown at the fact that something just got you in the ass. One thing's for sure; these guys were good.

You wake up in a cylinder, Jane no where in sight. Wait, where's Jane? You look down and realize you were in just your undergarments, making all your swirly twirl markings stand out on your skin. They were white and ran down your whole body from your neck to your feet and twirling around in detailed patterns.  
They were called family marks you think, and the patterns stayed very similar from family to family although they only showed on the people who had the family's signature ability to show how strong they were. Apparently you took after your mom's family ability, to creat something from nothing. You wonder what the family ability for your dad's family was. Although, if a hunter found you they would basically go on like they won the jackpot.  
You hear the door open, turning to face it and see who it was you were staring down. It was a big guy in his green military uniform, glaring at you with two shaken up scientist following him like lost puppies. He walked right up to the cylinder and glared at you, and you glared back completely unfazed.  
"What's your name?" The big guy asked.  
"What's your name?" You repeated.  
"My name is English, now what is your name?"  
"Roxy."  
"Roxy?"  
"Yes?"  
"I was expecting something else."  
"Sorry, mama gave me a human name. Same with my friend Jane, which I really wanna know where she is."  
"Her location doesn't matter."  
"Yes it does. I refuse to cooperate until my friend is with me."  
"What makes you think we need your cooperation?"  
"The fact that I'm sm'rter than I look, plus with my ability you won't be able to knock me out again since I now know what you are using."  
"What exactly are you?"  
"A cat."  
"You're not just a cat, so please explain what you are."  
"Fine, I'm a human-cat hybrid."  
"That wasn't very helpful."  
"Well, you want helpful information you better get my friend then, till then you get the obvious and the stupid."  
English was not happy with that. "I can have you ripped apart limb by limb if you don't anwser, do you understand?"  
"Ripped apart limbs can't give you the information you're asking for and will ask for. Go ahead, it ain't gonna do shit."  
English was starting to look angry bordering furious. "Don't act like you aren't scared of me. I'll tear you apart on a lab table."  
"Sorry mister high school jock, but I'm pretty sure it will be someone else gettin' their hands dirty besides you. And like I said, go right ahead, but I must warn you that I'm a slow healer, so I won't pull through. My friend Jane doesn't have the information I do, so good luck getting the knowledge on your own!"  
English was definitely furious, sputtering and fuming. It was like he didn't get what you were saying to him at all. "Get the stupid rabbit girl." He growled. The two that had been following him scrambled out the door, coming running back moments later with Jane in a dog crate. "There, now talk."  
"Hi Jane! You alright in there?"  
You hear her still sniffling. "I-I'm fine."  
"You're in your undies and bra, too? That's no way to treat a lady!" He was taken back, surprised by your words. "She isn't really comfortable with herself even though she's totes attractive, so can you please give her a jacket or something? I swear she isn't dangerous, in fact she is one of the sweetest girls I know, so there shouldn't be a problem with opening the crate and lettin' her out."  
English seemed surprised. "You are just worried about the girl?"  
"Well yeah, she's my bestie. I'll tell you what you want, just don't hurt her, alright?"  
The room was silent enough to hear a pin drop, but English quickly recovered. "So what are you two exactly?"  
"I'm not sure you can pronounce our language, but humans call us fauna." You were seriously making this up as you go, but you were such a great liar he didn't even seem to suspect it for a second. "I think it's because we usually hide outside of cities in the wilderness, and because we're all animal hybrid type people."  
He totally bought it! "There was a crow boy found inside a decently sized city. Any ideas why?"  
"His parents obviously didn't live there. Must have been adopted by a human."  
"I see. Are the markings a common thing? I have ran into one of your kind who didn't have markings."  
"The markings mean you grew up healthy. They form if you can get all the resources you need during the year or so before you turn sixteen. The kid you ran into was either too young or had it tough growin' up."  
"Alright. How do you know so much?"  
"My mom was a doctor of sorts."  
"Care to explain the crystal?"  
"It was my mom's and she gave it to me before she..."  
"She what?"  
"...she died."  
The room fell silent again, English giving you a strange glance. "How old are you?"  
"Twenty."  
"And your friend?"  
"Nineteen."  
"Why do you both have gills? Is that a common thing as well?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Why don't humans have gills?"

"Because we didn't evolve to have them."

"Well I evolved to have them, so there's y'ur reason!"

"We are going to let you out now. One wrong move and you both get it." English stated as a scientist tapped away at the controls. The cylinder opened and you stepped out as an alarm sounds in the hall.

"What's that?"

"Not sure. Watch the two girls while I investigate." English left the room. The scientists just stared at you nervously as created a key and opened Jane's crate. They didn't look so happy with it.

You smile at them, sharp canines probably not helping in the friendliness factor. Jane stayed in the crate despite you opening it. "Hey scrubs, got any clothes?" They seemed surprised, but they quickly handed over their coats. "Here you go Janey." The coat went down just a little past mid thigh on her, but she climbed out of the crate so it worked. She was obviously not at all happy with the current situation. "Hey, what's the alarm mean?"

"We are being attacked."

"Alrighty then. Come on Jane." You walk right out the lab door, holding Jane's hand as you head down the hall.


	10. Chapter 10

Nothing like skipping through the hallway while the alarms were blaring. Jane was not so happy with skipping through the halls. "Roxy, why are you skipping?!"  
"Because I like skipping." You almost sing as you continue down the hall. Everyone was busy with something, so you just dragged Jane along as you continued down the hall.  
"Roxy, we should be running. We don't need to get caught again."  
"Alrighty then, let's go!" You start running down the halls, but instead of the door you find a courtyard and what appears to be stables. The domed glass ceiling is to high up for you to try to break, so you try checking the stables. You immediately recognize several of the creatures to be forest dwellers that were relatively harmless. Because of this, you make a key and hand it to Jane before making another key. "Operation unlock stuff!"  
Jane turned around and started unlocking cages. You were unlocking cages as fast as you could, even some of the dangerous ones, and they all took off down the hall. You and Jane race each other in this unlocking cage game where the further down the bigger things got.  
The last cage took two keys to open, the both of you working together to force the doors open. The creature before you looked like a giant frog with swirly twirly mixes of star constellations and color. You and Jane had to also unlock the restraints on it's feet before it could be free. Once you did it was off like a shot.  
"You need help there?" You could swear it was Dirk trying to trick you, but when you turned around it was a different younger crow boy in jeans and a tank top. "Who are you?"  
"I'm Dave. Terezi said you two got left behind and when she came back she saw the copters already flying away. I'll help you bust open cages." You toss him your key before making another one quickly. "Woah. We will talk later, let's go."  
So now you had Dave racing along to unlock things as well. The court yard looked more and more chaotic with every hall you guys finished. By the time you were done with the fourth hall the courtyard was a mess. "You guys might want to cover your heads."  
"Wait, what?" You can barely ask before something comes crashing through the glass. A white scaled reptile arm wraps around your waist and Jane's and before you know it you are out of there and into the cold night.  
"Dave, we really need to go. It's approaching dawn already."  
"Why didn't we bring Pyral closer?"  
"Because if English spotted him we would never get away." The arms holding you and Jane held tighter as a gust of wind tossed you all around.  
"Redglare? When did you get all scaly?"  
"That's her ability, and your teal eyed friend's ability too." Dave replied, flapping hard against the wind. You then remembered all the things Dirk said about his family and such as the wind pulled up the edges of Dave's shirt, exposing his markings.  
"Hey, can you do the feathery thing?"  
"I have no clue what you're talking about."  
"You haven't tried fixing your feathers?" Dave fell silent. "Well?"  
"I have explored my... change much. Even with both Lalondes bothering me about 'learn your powers' I really don't want to even deal with them."  
"So you didn't try fixing your feathers?"  
"I tried once, but it freaked me out."  
"Wait, what happened?" Redglare asked.  
"I don't even know. It was freaky as shit. Guy can't even enjoy trying to repair his wings without something going wrong."  
"But they're supposed ta look rainbowy!"  
"How did you know?"  
"Well, Dirk told me about the family special ability, which you have if you've got markings, and it's really cool. Actually, there's a story to why the feathers turn rainbowy." Everyone was silent, so you took that as a cue to continue. "Once everyone was freezing in the horrible winter, so they all wanted someone to talk to the sky spirits to find a way to help them. The crow with his beautiful rainbow plumage and the most beautiful singing voice went to find the solution. The answer was fire, but the crow had to bring it back, so he carried it in his beak. As he flew, the fire singed his feathers black and the smoke ruined his voice. He saved everyone, but now is like the crows we see today. Technically, it's an injury so you can 'fix' your voice and feathers."  
Redglare started laughing so hard she almost dropped you and Jane. "No wonder you can't sing! And here a thought you were tone deaf."  
"Shut up Terezi, you're actually tone deaf."  
"Now I'm curious what your singing voice would be like all fixed up."  
"Terezi, drop it. I'm not fixing my voice just so you can hear me sing."  
"What about your feathers?"  
"I don't need to be covered in dragon drool. You know how hard it was to get out of my hair and feathers when you first found out about the color thing?"  
"I'm going to say three hours."  
"Five hours actually, scrubbing at the droll in a shower."

"It wasn't that bad."

"It was. Dragon droll is made of liquid concrete or something."

"So maybe being in dragon form while licking you was a bad idea."

"You now know. Don't let dragons lick you."

"Why did you let a dragon lick you?" Jane asked confused.

"Like I had control over it. If I did have control over it I wouldn't have been pinned in the hallway taking a drool bath. No one else was home for some reason."

"That's because Rose took everyone else to pick strawberries and forgot that you were recording raps in your room."

"Forgot my ass. Lalonde left me on purpose."

"So that's Jaspers' sister."

Dave looked over. "You know Jaspers?"

"Yeah. He told me I'm related to him and his sister."

"And how would he know this?"

"I told him about me. My mom had a one nighter with this guy named Lalonde who could turn into a cat and she gave me his last name. I asked Jaspers if we were related when I found out that his name was Lalonde and he said yes."

Dave had a slight blush going on. "Oh my god."

"I know! I can't believe I have living family members."

"How old are you?"

"I'm twenty."

"No wonder Bro found him. Did Jaspers happen to tell you who your father was?"

"Nope."

"Classic Jaspers."

"Wait, do you know who my dad is?"

"It's Jaspers."

You can't come up with anything to say. Your father is alive and you met him in real life. He gave you a map. You literally met your father without knowing it and you were probably going to see him again.

Forget your past twenty years, this was the best year ever.


	11. Chapter 11

You were finally meeting your brother after all these years apart. He had brought Roxy and Jane home early this mourning before heading off to bed without a word. Redglare, or rather Terezi, said to leave him be a while.  
It is nine thirty pm and he still hasn't left his room.  
You sigh, noticing that everyone else was playing out around the giant treehouse, playing all sorts of games as music blared. You want to see your brother and you did give him a while to be on his own, so you open the door, food for him in hand since he hasn't eaten all day.  
The dark room was lit by the moonlight coming in through the window, but that isn't what surprised you, not in the least. Several tattered rainbow feathers lay scattered on the floor along with black ones. The sound that reaches your ears is that of someone chocking back sobs and breaths of air. The kid in front of you is the marking covered, black winged kid you had followed in hopes of protecting and meeting, but not like this.  
You take another step closer to the brother you always wanted to meet, heart breaking to see him crying on his knees with tattered wings. "Dave?"

Today was amazing. You meet your aunt who is younger than you by two years and can't help containing your excitement. She is not the least bit surprised to see you, but she is very excited to meet you too. She even introduces you to everyone at the safe house as you introduce her to your group.  
The safe house was a huge treehouse that made the one you were in as a toddler look small, but then again the trees were huge. The treehouse was literally a house built to look like a tree. You had to admit, this was some clever planning.  
Apparently Dave mixed songs a lot and even made a few of his own, and Jade was quick to play them aloud. Pretty soon it started ending up like a party. Thing is. That no one lived out here for miles, so you guys could blast the music without worrying about someone finding the place. You were quickly liking this place more and more.  
Dirk did mention something about checking on Dave, but it didn't quite register until he had been gone for almost twenty minutes. "I'm going to go check on Dicky, I mean Dirk." You state to Kanaya, taking a break from the conversation about the interwebs to head into the house and up to Dave's room in search of Dirk.  
You slow down once you think you hear something, focusing on the sound. As soon as it registers as crying you bolt into the room, almost kicking the door off the hinges with your Roxy Fu fight skills. You see to very surprised shadeless Striders staring at you, one of which had tears streaming down the side of his face and the other hugging the one who was crying. It was a very strange sight to be seen.  
"What the heckie deckie is goin' on?" You question, surprised that neither Strider had shades on their face at the moment.  
"A heartfelt family moment?"  
"Then why is it a question? Wait, is this about the injury you healed on the way back because you got shot?"  
"Who the fuck shots people's necks? Yes I'm upset about that, I almost died. And I had to heal myself and nothing is gong right. Healing my wings just makes them freaky looking, and dork-asaurus Rex here accidentally surprised me. I wasn't going to be flightless, but now I am for the next four weeks."  
"Why not just heal them?"  
Dave reached under his bed, quickly holding a feather of all ranging colors in your face. "This is why. I heal myself and I will be drenched in dragon droll faster than you can say 'run'."  
"This is amazing though. Besides, I bet you can hold Terezi off."  
"Not if I'm a glowing mass of rainbow feathers." He was heading for the door when he shakily froze and flames engulfed him. Moments later the flames started giving way to glistening feather and beautiful arrays of color. "No, no, no, no!" He looked around panicked. "I didn't do that. I swear I didn't do that."  
"We have to mind control people. I'm gonna make sure they didn't do anything." You race downstairs, immediately spotting Aranea. "Did you mess with Dave?"  
"I made him heal himself. The pain that he was feeling was strong enough that I felt it out here without even trying."  
"He's panicking now."  
"I know. What happened? Did I mess up?"  
"A little bit."  
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Should I go talk to him?"

"Hey, where's Terezi?"

"She's inside getting a drink, why?"

"Quick, we got to keep her away from Dave! You distract her, I'll check on Dave." You head into the house, Aranea following close behind. Terezi casually is pouring a glass of juice that you guess is apple from the smell.

"Hey guys. Is that a hint of fear I smell?" Terezi sniffs the air before taking a quick swig of her juice and glancing almost towards the two of you. "What's going on?"

"I wanted to talk about D&D characters. I heard that you plan out several game nights and wanted to make a character."

"You came to the right place."

Aranea and Terezi quickly got deep into their conversation, leaving you the perfect opportunity to sneak past to Dave's room. Dirk was trying to pull Dave out from under his bed with very little success, so you just crouch down next to Dirk. "Terezi is distracted, so you can sneak out the window or somethin'!"

"The windows don't open. I would have to physically walk past Terezi."

"Then why not do that?"

"I don't want to bath in dragon saliva, thank you very much."

"I got you covered lil' bro. Go, go, go." Dirk managed to get Dave out from under the bed and out the door, running down the halls. You were just behind Dave as you and Dirk try blocking him from view. You both quickly remember that Terezi is in fact blind and there was no way to keep her from smelling him when you guys got close.

Terezi stopped mid conversation and started sniffing loudly as you all approached the bottom of the stairs. "What is that amazing smell?" Dave bolted for the door, diving for the door when Terezi jumped over the counter. Dave made it out the door seconds before Terezi, but in the end she tackled him.

Everyone was surprised by the feathers, but they all just laughed a bit as Terezi licked him before helping him up. "Wait, you guys aren't a little confused?" Dave asked in confusion.

"Why would we be? You're still Dave after all, just with colorful wings." Jade smiled.

"Yeah. You still lead us here." Karkat gave a slight smile.

"You took us in." You add.

"See? In the end your still our Dave, no matter how you change in appearance." Rose hugged him.

The night was just beginning, and after this several more good nights to come.

And just to kick it off, Dave decided to sing the night away with the rest of you singing along.

(This is the end. I liked this story. To those of you who read, I just want to thank you guys.)


End file.
